The biggest online poker news of the day is that Pokerroom.com, the third largest online poker company in the world, could be taken over by the European online sportsbook Bet And Win for the cool sum of half-a-billion dollars.
Negotiations are well underway, and have reached a formal stage with a "Memorandum of understanding" entered into between Bet and Win and Ongame.
Ongame is a Swedish company, and one of the biggest Internet success stories to date. The company was started by two young Swedish entrepreneurs who decided to build their on in-house poker software. The result was Pokerroom.com, which has grown at an astronomical rate in the past three years to become the third-largest poker room behind only Party Poker and Poker Stars.
If Bet And Win is successful with their takeover bid the Pokerroom.com network would become the second-largest in the world. The potential deal is reminiscent of Sportingbet's purchase of Paradise Poker, which has so far worked out extremely well for all parties.
Bet And Win are based out of Austria, and recently their share price has quintupled from 14 Euro a share all the way up to 72 Euro a share. They're clearly looking to expand into the North American market, and acquiring a well-run product like Poker Room would be a big step in the right direction.
Reports that a Costa Rican sportsbook had offered to buy out Empire Poker for $5 million and a complimentary pina colada were immediately dismissed as nothing more than a bad joke...
